Blogging about Loughborough: local history, past and current events, places to visit! Basically, anything that's interesting to me and I think might be of interest to you! Articles are usually posted at 8pm on Sundays.

Sunday, 24 November 2013

This week has been extremely exciting for me as I’ve been
off gallivanting again!!

Thursday saw me in Lincoln, spending a leisurely day with
the other half who’d taken a couple of days off work prior to starting a new
job. We had a lovely inexpensive lunch at a great Italian restaurant and spent
a happy few hours wandering around the town. We left Lincoln during the rush
hour, but still managed to make it back to Loughborough in time for me to go to
an event run by the Friends of Charnwood Museum in the evening.

Elgar and friend, courtesy of R&R Hill

The talk at the museum on Thursday evening, was about Elgar’s musical compositions during and after the First World War. It was delivered by Dr Steven Halls, the Chairman of the Elgar Society. You may have heard that in 1923, Edward Elgar wrote a
specially commissioned piece of music to be played on the Carillon at its
opening in July of that year. After the opening ceremony, for some reason or
other, the manuscript disappeared, only to be found last year, 2012, in a
cupboard in the Charnwood Borough Council offices.

During the
talk we were shown how Elgar had really reached the pinnacle of his career just
prior to WW1, and that the works he created during WW1 were of a more patriotic
and straightforward nature – simple, but pleasant tunes.

In 1914 he wrote a piece called Carillon, which was composed
as a tribute to soldiers who had already lost their lives, and in celebration of Belgian carillons, many of which had been destroyed. You may
already be aware that our own Carillon is modelled on those in Belgium, where
there are many of them.

After the war, Elgar moved to the Sussex countryside and
here he began composing more traditional works, like the string quartet and the
cello concerto. He assigned opus numbers to the works he deemed important or
that he thought had the potential to leave a lasting legacy. Interestingly,
after these big works, his later output was mostly of smaller pieces, and
this included our very own Memorial Chimes for a Carillon, otherwise known as the
Loughborough Memorial Chimes, I mentioned earlier. Apparently, Elgar retained the rights to arrange this piece for other instruments, and as such it is more often heard as an organ piece, although I think most arrangements pre-date the finding of the original manuscript.

Elgar died in 1934, and although his popularity comes and goes, he left behind a body of work that is of
sufficient quality to ensure that he remains one of Britain’s great, if not
greatest, composer.

Jacqueline Du Pre, with Daniel Barenboim

After the talk, I spoke to the Chairman of the Society,
enquiring why he preferred the Julian Lloyd Webber version of the cello
concerto, to that of Jacqueline du Pre. His answer was simply to do with how
the musical interpretation affected us all differently and we were each likely
to have our own preferred performers, who spoke directly to us as listeners.

Sample of Elgar music

As a result of listening to that talk and discussion I decided to join
both the national and the East Midlands Elgar Societies. It was only when I got
home that I realised that I had actually been to school with, and played in the
same orchestra as Steven Halls, the Chairman of the Elgar Society!

The manuscript of Memorial Chimes for a Carillon, and some
letters pertaining to its performance are currently on display in the Charnwood Museum:
Do pop in and have a look the next time you are in town.

Festival of Britten at Lichfield Cathedral

Sticking with the musical theme - and a British musical theme to boot - Friday saw me watching a performance of Noye’s Fludde, by Benjamin Britten, in Lichfield Cathedral. I can’t think of a better way to celebrate the 100th anniversary since Britten’s birth and St Cecilia’s Day! I studied Noye’s Fludde for my music 'O' level, but hadn’t heard a live performance before. This was just under an hour of the wonderful, enthusiastic, energetic Cathy Lamb, joint Music Director of the cathedral, resplendent in a canary-yellow, made-for-the-occasion t-shirt! Fantastic, well-organised children from the three local church schools and some strong adult leads, all sang beautifully, telling the biblical story of Noah and his ark.

Advert for Taylor’s Bellfoundry

Before the performance began, I flipped through the programme, and imagine my surprise upon finding an advert for Taylor’s of Loughborough!! Thinking there must be some Taylor’s bells up there in the bell tower, I asked one of the lay chapters, Bryan Ramsell, about the bells: They had been re-cast in 1686 after being destroyed in the Civil War - a bit early for Taylor’s in Loughborough - but he introduced me to a gentleman in the orchestra who was able to tell me about the Taylor connection to Lichfield.

It was such a long time ago that I listened in earnest to Noye’s Fludde, that I had completely forgotten that some of the music was played on handbells! And this is what I discovered from talking to the gentleman handbell ringer! They had borrowed the handbells from Taylor’s for the event and were returning them on Wednesday! In fact, the gentleman told me that he enjoyed his trips to Loughborough, because, not only did he always visit the bellfoundry, but he also made regular visits to the Great Central Railway, and he often popped into the Carillon for an impromptu practice!!!

One disappointing piece of information, however, was his opinion that the Carillon was in dire need of some serious maintenance, before it becomes unplayable. His admiration for the tenacity of Caroline Sharpe was quite obvious, but he was clearly worried about the condition of the musical instrument in Queen’s Park. I do hope CBC read my blog!

So, one particular highlight of the musical event for me was being able to listen to the glorious sound of some Taylor’s handbells, expertly rung! Having returned home, I did a quick internet search, and discovered that the British Carillon Society has its headquarters in Lichfield!

So much excitement over the two days, but it wasn’t over yet!! Saturday morning I made my way to the Old John car park at Bradgate Park to take part in some fieldwalking for the Charnwood Roots project which I have mentioned to you before. With permission from the Bradgate Park Trust and the tenant farmers, we were allowed to walk one of the recently ploughed fields, looking for evidence of human habitation of the area. Each novice (that would be me, then) was paired up with a more experienced fieldwalker, and we spent three hours traversing the field, eyes down, scouring the field for exciting stones! As a novice, I don’t think I found anything interesting or helpful, but I was certainly pleased to find a complete horseshoe, a couple of bits of pottery, some large chunks of Victorian drains, and several bits of brick!!

Returning home a bit chilly and in need of some sleep, the afternoon passed really quickly, and Sunday morning saw me at Charnwood College for the Leicestershire Brass Band Association contest! Which actually is a bit of a fib, because as I write this, it’s still Saturday!! But I will be there tomorrow!

Sunday, 17 November 2013

The problem with researching the history of your locality is
where do you stop? It’s simply not possible to learn everything, so sometimes
it’s great to get something specific to concentrate on! Prompted by another of
those remarks on facebook, this time about the fair being hundreds of years
old, I set off on a voyage of discovery …

Fairs have always been important to me, especially since I
grew up in a village, where we lived on the side of the common [according to
wikipedia, this is the last remaining of 9 commons, but according to
Caerleon.net it is the last of 7], and it was here every May-time that the
travelling fair would set up for a week. To a young child the fair seemed huge,
and had all the attractions you’d expect of a 1960s fair. We were lucky enough
to have the dodgem rides right in front of our house – well, I though we were
lucky, but my parents’ bedroom was at the front of the house, so I would
imagine they would sometimes find the music and excited voices quite irritating
at bedtime!

﻿﻿

Sweet stall

Of course, now that I’m grown up, I’ve discovered that the
common was only about 3/4s of an acre in size, so compared to the Loughborough
fair, the May fair in Caerleon was tiny!! However, when I moved to Loughborough
I found it quite exciting to discover that other towns had fairs, and was quite
impressed with the size of it! When I first started going there were rides like
swingboats, stalls of hook-a-duck and roll-a-penny, penny arcades and shooting
galleries, as well as one or two big rides like waltzers and the ferris wheel,
and of course, the ubiquitous dodgems and candy floss stalls.
﻿﻿﻿﻿

Tombola

Today, in the interests of research, I took myself off to
see what this year’s fair had to offer. Well, none of your hook-a-ducks, or
shooting galleries, and I didn’t see any hoop throwing stalls. I think there
was only the one set of dodgems, but they were so different – new cars and a
new stage, not surrounding by the usual little wooden fence!

I didn’t see any
penny arcades either, but there were a few grabber machines, and several large
tombola stalls, lots of people selling helium balloons and several stalls
selling hats and ears.

The Princess tries to escape!

The pink waltzers!

The pink waltzers were most attractive, as were some of the
other rides – jungle rides and ghost rides. A couple of attractions were very
odd, especially the big pink pillows filled with people, floating on a pond
outside the Echo offices!!

An arm-like thing!

There were a couple of tall arm-like things that
threw people up in the air and then rushed them back down again, there were a
couple of helter-skelters.

The big wheel

The big wheel from Queen's Park

And, of course, there was the big wheel, a
posh-looking version in white with bright white lights and modern-looking pods
– not like the old multi-coloured ones!

Some important dates in the history of Loughborough Fair

Of course, I’m so used to the fairgrounds of today, the
noise, the music, the crush, the expense, that it’s hard for me to imagine what
a fair may have been like all those years ago, when the fair was first granted
its charter. But, the origin and history of fairs goes way back, and is
considered by some to be associated with pagan customs, when people gathered
seasonally, for festivals and fairs. Such fairs were also popular in Roman
times, and later became part of the Christian festivals calendar; hence early
Charters specify occasions in terms of Saints days, and there was a deal of
confusion when the calendar we used changed from the Julian to the Gregorian in
1752.

There appear to be several specific important dates in the
history of Loughborough fair, starting with the granting of the Charter in
1221, which was apparently granted by Henry III, whilst still a boy. This
allowed for an annual event, held on 31st July and 1st
August, which were the vigil and day of St Peter ad Vincula, but because Henry
was a boy, the Charter was only temporary, so in 1227 he confirmed the Charter,
granting an extra day, on the day following St Peter’s Day. The following year,
1228, another Charter was granted, based around All Souls Day – the day after
All Saints’ Day – which falls on 2nd November. I believe there were about 5,000
other fairs that were granted Royal Charters around the same time as
Loughborough was given theirs, and the granting of the Charter meant that the
organisation and control of the fair stayed with the towns people (or their
representatives).

As I mentioned above, changing from one calendar to another
meant that about 11 days in the year were lost, so the November fair became 13th
November. In 1881, local officials, possibly the Board of Health, obtained an
order that stated that the opening day of the fair would always be the second
Thursday in November, as it still is today. Also, sometime in the period
1221-1228 a Charter was granted for holding a weekly market.

What's it all about?

The original Medieval fair was quite closely associated with
the town market, which had also been granted a Charter in 1221, and was held
once a week on a Thursday. Over time, Loughborough developed as a market town,
and by 14th century, was quite famous for trading in wool and cloth.
By the late 1700s, there were about 5 markets/fairs in the town, one of which
was the November 13th fair, which was associated with trading in
cows, sheep and horses. This lasted until the middle of the nineteenth century,
when cattle became the main focus of the first day of the November fair, and by
the end of the century other markets included a retail market, a corn fair, a
butter, egg and cheese fair a hiring, or statute fair and the funfair. With
developments in engineering and mechanisation, the cattle market eventually
moved to another location and amusements became the focus of the November fair.

The Carillon, surrounded

In the twentieth century, there have been times when there
has been no fair, for example, during the period of WW1. There was also a
period when the voice of the dissenters was quite loud and there was a risk
that the fair would be moved from the town streets. Luckily for us today, the
powers that be agreed to keep the location, thus helping to preserve the sense
of fun and excitement that accompanies a visit to the fair.

View from the back!

In the 1950s, according to a reporter for the “World’sFair”, the specialist newspaper for the Showmen’s Guild, suggested that for the
duration of the fair, the town lost its dignified character and adopted a
carnival-like atmosphere! In about 1955 the fair was described as being 5 fairs
in various of the town’s streets, linked with entertainment booths, until in
about 1965 when the whole of the Market Place was taken over by the fair. More
recently, in 1996, fairground rides and attractions were placed on the main A6
trunk road, at its junction with Market Place, and continue to this day.

Pink pillows on the A6 trunk road!

The Loughborough fair is traditionally the last fair of the
year and marks the end of the fairground season, although lately, some showmen
now take their attractions to the various newly-established town fairs that
have been created to boost trade, especially at Christmas-time.

History of the rides and entertainment

Today, when we think of the fair, we think of fairground
rides and entertainment stalls. The very early rides would have been made from
wood, and would have been operated (presumably meaning pulled, pushed or
turned!) by young boys. This all changed around 1860 following the invention of
steam power, when a chap called Frederick Savage mounted a steam engine in the
middle of the rides. This meant that rides could be bigger and more decorative,
as they were no longer relying on the strength of boys.

It is interesting to note that the annual November fair was
a place where the people of Loughborough could experience the latest in
entertainment. For example, during the 1880s, the annual visits of Wall’s
Phantoscope (one of the first film projection machines and was invented by Charles Francis Jenkins, around
the same time as Edison’s kinetoscope, or vitascope, but operating in a slightly different
way) were viewed with wonderment, and were followed by the introduction of the
bioscope. These machines and techniques were indeed precursors to the more
modern cinematography and to the cinema of today.

﻿

Grabbing a Minion!

Of course, today’s rides have benefited from advances
in electrical engineering and hydraulics, and, no doubt, advances in programme
logic controllers also have a part to play – in timings, control of synching
music and safety.All-in-all, a great time can be had at Loughborough fair! The noise, the crowds, the music, the excitement all make for the most wonderful experience - even if, like me, you never venture onto a ride!!Roll on next year!

Sources:
Green, George H. Loughborough markets and fairs through 7 1/2 centuries. Loughborough: George Green, 1964.
Anon. (2007) National fairground archive [WWW] The University of Sheffield. Available from: http://www.nfa.dept.shef.ac.uk/history/charter/lough.html [Accessed 16 November 2013]

Sunday, 3 November 2013

If you were asked to join a Culture in Loughborough walk,
you’d probably say “That’ll be a short walk then!”. So, I’m sure you’d be
surprised to learn that 90 minutes to walk and talk about culture in Loughborough quite simply
isn’t enough: In fact, there’s more than enough culture in Loughborough to fill
at least two such walks! Had you come along to the recent culture walk, led by
Ernie Miller, you’d have discovered that, actually, Loughborough had, and still
has, it’s fair share of cultural activities!

Theatre

So, for example, did you know that:

Loughborough has had four theatres, one of which is
still standing – and that’s not including the Town Hall, nor any of the
theatres on the university campus?

The Odeon as The Curzon in 2004

And, did you know that at one time Loughborough had
three cinemas all operating at the same time?

And that the Odeon (formerly the Empire, The Essoldo,
The New Empire, The Curzon, The Reel) which currently has six screens has
applied for planning permission to add another four screens

﻿
﻿﻿﻿

A new cinema?

And that Cineworld has put in a planning application to
build a cinema complex on the site of the old Baxtergate Hospital?

Charnwood Museum from Granby Street

And that there are currently four museums?

And, did you know that Loughborough’s modern coffee culture
has been going on for years, partly encouraged by the Temperance Society who
tried to persuade people not to drink alcohol, and who opened a coffee house on
the corner of Devonshire Square and Granby Street, now a locally listed
building?

The Organ Grinder, aka The Old Pack Horse

And talking of alcohol, pubs have been the meeting places of
numerous groups and societies, and places of musical entertainment, for many
years. The Three Nunsstill has live bands playing, the Organ
Grinder still has folk music evenings, and the Swan in the Rushes also has
bands and performances by Mikronthe canal theatre group.

﻿

Carnegie Library

A library is not only about education, it is also about
culture. The first library in Loughborough was a subscription library on
Baxtergate, available only to those who could afford to pay for the service,
and the first free public library was on Greenclose Lane, more or less where
Sainsbury is now.

Today’s library provides much more than books, as befits a 21st
century service: DVDs are available for loan, computers are available to use,
and the library is home to a variety of other activities, including being hosts
to public health checks, writing and craft classes.

An example of a Ladybird book

And so to books! Loughborough, the home of Ladybird books!
Originally based in Angel Yard, the publisher Wills, who produced trade and
street directories, was joined, in 1915 by Mr Hepworth, and together they
published the first Ladybird book. The rest, as they say, is history!

Signaller in the sunshine

Re-dedication of the Fearon Fountain Apr 2013

﻿﻿﻿﻿﻿﻿﻿
Loughborough is also rich in public sculpture, ranging from
the Fearon Fountain in the Market Place, and elaborately carved reliefs on
buildings in the town centre, to the Signaller in The Rushes.

St Paul bell casing in Queen’s Park

The latest
collection of sculptures which were erected in Queen’s Park as
part of the In Bloom entry are on a music-related theme and includes the bell casing used to cast the Great Paul bell in St Paul's Cathedral.

Over the years the town has also been home to various music
shops: George Adcock’s on Baxtergate, George Hames on Baxtergate then Market
Place, Paltridge’s on Churchgate, Groops on The Rushes, and Just Music on
Leicester Road, to name but a few.

So, that’s the first culture walk done! Look out
for the next one soon!!

About Me

Been working in libraries for 37 years; public libraries for two years, followed by a special library for two years, and then academic libraries for the remainder! One of the highlights of my career was teaching myself html coding way back in 1995. Trying to re-create that high with a blog, a wiki, and other social media tools, including cataloguing my home book collection using librarything! Excited to have completed a local history course with OUDCE and to shortly be a published author with Amberley.